Losing Graceland

In his fair-to-middling sophomore effort, Nathan (Gods of Aberdeen) resurrects Elvis Presley—or a bloated old man named John Barrow who wants to be the king—and follows him from his suburban Buffalo, N.Y., hideout to Memphis, Tenn., where he hopes to find and liberate his estranged, illegitimate granddaughter, Nadine Emma Brown, recently reported as missing. Though the quick narrative slips into "the old man's" point of view at irregular intervals, most of the narrative is channeled through the perceptions of Ben Fish, the 21-year-old anthropology major Elvis hires to drive him cross-country. Ben is reeling from the death of his father and the loss of his "hot" girlfriend, and goes along for the promised $10,000, which will fund his dream of moving to Amsterdam. The duo's adventures—brawling with the biker gang Hell's Foster Children, competing in Elvis impersonator contests, visiting hillbilly oracles—are entertaining, but it's the old man's battle with his ailing body, pain pill addiction, and legacy that will leave readers wishing for more from a novel that travels too much through the light terrain of Ben's insubstantial struggles with growing up. (Jan.)